Randomizer, V. I Don't Remember

DH gets a 4-day weekend for Independence Day... except for the 24-hour duty on SATURDAY. Of all days! Welcome to the Army.

I haven't been around much lately because I've found a new addiction: medblogs. Wheeee! I'll slowly add the ones I really enjoy to my blogroll, as I'm just lazy and don't want to go making new links all the time. At the moment I'm perusing NurseK's archives with great glee.

I quit my job the week before I went to the hospital, and since then, I've been so glad I did. I've been so worn out, even without working! It seems kind of pointless to try to find another job, since we're probably going to be moving back to Georgia in a few short months. DH and I were planning on visiting his parents in Europe over his terminal leave, but I'll be too pregnant for such a long plane ride.

I was bored earlier today, so I took all the cushions out of the couch to see what I'd find. Dust bunnies and three pennies. Thrilling.

At the moment I'm listening to various a cappella groups online. I love a cappella. I think some of the instrument-less arrangements are better than the originals.

I'm thinking of posting some of my fiction writing here. I need to get back into it. I have a book stagnating on my computer that I'd like to get truly underway. I have a few chapters here and there, outlining my ideas, but I need to fill it in. Want to read it?

Scary

Today was my first OB appointment at the hospital. I waited and waited to be seen, getting me nice and agitated for the doctor. DH napped with his head in his hand beside me while my leg jiggled nonstop. Nervousness.
The doc couldn't find the heartbeat.
We switched from the doppler to the portable ultrasound, squishing almost-hot gel on my abdomen again. No heartbeat. No baby. Just a very full bladder. Another doc came in to look. Nothing. I dressed and waited to be seen in the 3-D ultrasound room.
More waiting. More nervousness. I voiced my concern to DH, who said I was a worrywart. No help there.
We traveled a few hallways down to the big ultrasound room, where I got more almost-hot gel and a very determined tech. She was going to find that baby if she made me pee my pants, darn it.
She almost did, too. But she found that baby, darn it. Just a grain of rice in a sea of black. It was almost as an afterthought that DH asked how far along I am. I'm glad he did; I totally forgot to! I'm exactly 5 weeks and 3 days along, so no worries about the hot tub or ibuprofen I had in Florida. I actually got on prenatal vitamins earlier than most women know they're pregnant (that is, when they're not particularly trying, like me), so I've got a pretty good start for this kid. I'm still a high-risk pregnancy, but I finally feel like I can announce to everyone that I'm knocked up!
Now if only this nausea would go away, I'd be dandy...

I Swear, This Is Not A Mommy Blog

My first true OB appointment is this Friday, but I have to go to the hospital sometime this week to pee in a cup because the sample I gave last week was somehow contaminated. I'm going to get a physical and a Pap smear (yippee skippy) and hopefully schedule an ultrasound. I can't wait for that! I really want to know how far along I really am. I'm so afraid I did something while in Florida that screwed up the kid. DH isn't very helpful with my fears; he call me a worrywart. My mom had two miscarriages out of four. Not very good odds for this kid. Then again, she didn't have morning sickness and I haven't not been nauseous for a week.
DH is still trying to decide whether or not to reenlist. If he does, he'll reclass, and hopefully will enjoy the new job more than this one. I hope he decides soon. It's just yet another thing for me to be on pins and needles about.

Patience

I have news, big news, but I have to sit on it for a while, about 10 days. Be patient, I shall tell all.

SBL 3

(I've been working on this post off and on between sick naps...)

SpouseBuzz Live 3 was awesome! I really enjoyed the first panel. Sarah was as witty in person as she is on her blog, and Toad is just as charming as he can be. I was interviewed while trying to talk to LAW, who was as no-nonsense as I imagined her, and might have been on YouTube with the lovely lady I sat next to if not for the fact that the panel started right when the interviewer started her camera, haha!

Among other cool girls, I met:

LAW
Butterfly Wife
Sarah

I'm sorry I missed you, Homefront6 :( I got a call from the hubby during lunch; he was sick and feeling really miserable, having not had anything to eat and being unable to get out of bed to wander downstairs. He was dizzy and unstable on his feet. That's probably where I got my own cold. At least it hasn't gotten that bad (yet!). As soon as I can get to a better internet connection, I'll watch the second panel online.

Shmelly

I finally figured out what was stinking up the fridge so horribly. It smelled like a rotting animal, let me tell you. There was a bag of broccoli forgotten and out of sight in the back of the opaque vegetable drawer on the bottom of the fridge. I had to pull the drawer out to make sure nothing had gotten behind it. then wiped the whole fridge down with Clorox wipes. That sure helped, coupled with the bowl of baking soda sitting in there for a day or so. A scented Yankee Candle fixed the residual stink in the kitchen. I noticed the smell was entirely gone this morning as I came back from attempting to deliver a PT shirt to DH. He'd dug out the wrong grey shirt from the laundry basket this morning in the dark, realized it when he got to work, and called me in a tizzy. Someone else had an extra shirt for him to borrow before I got there, though.
It's 0715 and I already feel accomplished today.

Oh Geez

I hope to hell this isn't true, but the site looks legit, even with all the ads everywhere. About halfway down the page, there is this article. Can anyone tell me if this is true or not? If so, this is just going to keep veterans from getting psychological help they need and create more problems.

VETERANS DISARMAMENT ACT TO BAR VETS FROM OWNING GUNS


By Larry Pratt
September 22, 2007
NewsWithViews.com

Hundreds of thousands of veterans -- from Vietnam through Operation Iraqi Freedom -- are at risk of being banned from buying firearms if legislation that is pending in Congress gets enacted.

How? The Veterans Disarmament Act -- which has already passed the House -- would place any veteran who has ever been diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) on the federal gun ban list.

This is exactly what President Bill Clinton did over seven years ago when his administration illegitimately added some 83,000 veterans into the National Criminal Information System (NICS system) -- prohibiting them from purchasing firearms, simply because of afflictions like PTSD.

The proposed ban is actually broader. Anyone who is diagnosed as being a tiny danger to himself or others would have his gun rights taken away ... forever. It is section 102(b)(1)(C)(iv) in HR 2640 that provides for dumping raw medical records into the system. Those names -- like the 83,000 records mentioned above -- will then, by law, serve as the basis for gun banning.

No wonder the Military Order of the Purple Heart is opposed to this legislation.

The House bill, HR 2640, is being sponsored by one of the most flaming anti-Second Amendment Representatives in Congress: Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY). Another liberal anti-gunner, Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT), is sponsoring the bill in the Senate.

Proponents of the bill say that helpful amendments have been made so that any veteran who gets his name on the NICS list can seek an expungement.

But whenever you talk about expunging names from the Brady NICS system, you’re talking about a procedure that has always been a long shot. Right now, there are NO EXPUNGEMENTS of law-abiding Americans’ names that are taking place under federal level. Why? Because the expungement process which already exists has been blocked for over a decade by a "funds cut-off" engineered by another anti-gunner, Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY).

So how will this bill make things even worse? Well, two legal terms are radically redefined in the Veterans Disarmament Act to carry out this vicious attack on veterans’ gun rights.

One term relates to who is classified a "mental defective." Forty years ago that term meant one was adjudicated "not guilty" in a court of law by reason of insanity. But under the Veterans Disarmament Act, "mental defective" has been stretched to include anyone whom a psychiatrist determines might be a tiny danger to self or others.

The second term is "adjudicate." In the past, one could only lose one's gun rights through an adjudication by a judge, magistrate or court -- meaning conviction after a trial. Adjudication could only occur in a court with all the protections of due process, including the right to face one's accuser. Now, adjudication in HR 2640 would include a finding by "a court, commission, committee or other authorized person" (namely, a psychiatrist).

Forget the fact that people with PTSD have the same violent crime rate as the rest of us. Vietnam vets with PTSD have had careers and obtained permits to carry firearms concealed. It will now be enough for a psychiatric diagnosis (a "determination" in the language of the bill) to get a veteran barred for life ­ from owning guns.



Think of what this bill would do to veterans. If a robber grabs your wallet and takes everything in it, but gives you back $5 to take the bus home, would you call that a financial enhancement? If not, then we should not let HR 2640 supporters call the permission to seek an expungement an enhancement, when prior to this bill, veterans could not legitimately be denied their gun rights after being diagnosed with PTSD.

Veterans with PTSD should not be put in a position to seek an expungement. They have not been convicted (after a trial with due process) of doing anything wrong. If a veteran is thought to be a threat to self or others, there should be a real trial, not an opinion (called a diagnosis) by a psychiatrist.



If members of Congress do not hear from soldiers (active duty and retired) in large numbers, along with the rest of the public, the Veterans Disarmament Act -- misleadingly titled by Rep. McCarthy as the NICS Improvement Amendments Act -- will send this message to veterans: "No good deed goes unpunished."

© 2007 Larry Pratt - All Rights Reserved

New Glass

I usually don't post about politics or Iraq here, but I just loved reading this(http://badgersforward.blogspot.com/2007/08/new-glass.html) from Badgers Forward. For some reason my brand new iMac isn't letting me see the HTML text editor on Blogger, but there's the link. Badger 6 says it better than I ever could, so.. go read it!

Letter

Take the trash out, go to the mailbox. Power bill. Overdraft notice, the first in nearly two years. Damn. Something from the doctor. A letter. Wait, I know that chickenscratch...
It's from RSM.
I fly to my door, wake up the iMac with a mouse click, log in. Rip it open, but not too sloppy. The postmark indicates last Friday--fast enough mail for me. One small sheet of United States Army stationery waits inside. It's full of chickenscratch. His first words:
"I'm alive. I'm tired. I'm ready to go home."
This week starts the endless FTXs, field training exercises. Saturday was a PFT, the physical fitness test. I'm sure he did fine, that overachiever. He doesn't mention rifle marksmanship qualifications, but I bet he doesn't want to brag. It's short and to the point, but what with the little free time they have, I certainly understand. I'm just happy to have gotten a letter!
"It's just that with day after day at 100F, the body armor can be a bit... uncomfortable. And when I say 'a bit uncomfortable,' I mean it in the same way as when I say, 'King Kong is a bit fuzzy.'"
Ah, there's his wit. He's fine.

New Friend

I made a new friend last night. DH and I went to the house of one of his buddies from work, thinking it'd be another big house party where everyone gets drunk. I wasn't looking forward to it much at all, until we got there and discovered we were the only ones invited. We had a fun evening of sitting around the table talking, drinking beer (except me), and tossing slugs at each other. Well, ok, it was just Dee tossing the giant slugs from their driveway at her husband. He hates the things. Both men are afraid/grossed-out by bugs and snakes and other creepy crawlies.
Dee and her husband are having their religious wedding ceremony this month, and I offered to help where I can with her dress alterations. I know I can at least take the sleeves off; Mom showed me how when I was little. We've already made plans to go out for sushi on Wednesday. I'm excited; I haven't gone looking for good sushi since I moved here. I know if I get bad sushi, I might not want to try any more for a good long time, and I like sushi, just like my blogdaddy. Dee says this place is good, so we'll see.

Dreary Monday

So DH isn't getting a yearlong vacation to the cradle of civilization. Apparently there was some kind of fight in the barracks in the middle of the night, bad enough that somebody with a lot of stripes decided that everyone, even the people who didn't live in the barracks, needed to be present for the ass-chewing. You can imagine how well that went over. Our Saturday was pretty much shot by the time he got home, near lunchtime. We hadn't gotten but maybe two hours of sleep before the call came, and DH of course didn't sleep at all after that. I got fitsy naps when my brain slowed down long enough. When he got home, DH said he'd been bracing himself on the drive in: "We leave in a week, we leave in a week..." Getting there and learning this was all about a stupid fight, well, that made everyone mad.
I have a lot of cleaning to do and I'm not looking forward to it. There's a lot of new electronic stuff (read: boy toys) that I'll have to find a place for, to get it off the floor. I still have to chenge out my dead hard drive with the new(er) one I got from my father, and try to retrieve my data. If I can't, I'll be hella pissed. There's a box to be sent to Iraq, another letter to RSM to be mailed, applications to be returned...
Sigh.